Jeremy Hunt: It may be unfair but money comes before A&E

Campaigners have been defeated in their efforts to retain a hospital’s accident and emergency unit – the victim of a £150million NHS Trust collapse.

At least 15,000 people marched to save Lewisham Hospital in south-east London on Saturday but ministers ruled the casualty department would be downgraded to an urgent care centre and several of its maternity services could be closed.

Opponents of the move included South African church leader Desmond Tutu who has links with the area. He said he hoped ‘good sense will prevail’. But health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had accepted a review by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh which recommended Lewisham should have a reduced A&E service.

15,000 marched to try and stop the closure (Picture: PA)

The proposals aim to solve an overspend at neighbouring hospitals in Woolwich and Bromley, despite Lewisham being under separate management, which Mr Hunt acknowledged was unfair. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the government’s ‘mismanagement’ of the NHS had got worse and the decision to downgrade services set a ‘dangerous precedent’ for other hospitals.

Calling on MPs to reject the decision Rehana Azam, national officer of the GMB union, said: ‘As people will have to travel further to access services, particularly urgent care in built-up areas with congested roads, lives will be put at risk.’